Tigers ball boy picks up fair ball, much to the disgust of RF Brennan Boesch (video)

A Detroit Tigers ball boy had an embarrassingly awkward experience during Tuesday’s game against the Cleveland Indians, something I imagine he’s still shuddering in horror over.

During the top of the 3rd inning with the Tribe leading 2-0, Indians shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera hit a ball right down the first base line that first-base umpire James Hoye ruled a fair ball. The ball boy, either not noticing that it was ruled a fair ball or wasn’t paying attention, calmly scooped up the ball as Tigers right fielder Brennan Boesch raced toward him.

The once-oblivious ball boy, slowly coming to the realization that he just made an epic screw-up, flipped the ball to Boesch, but once the right fielder noticed the play had been ruled dead and Cabrera was awarded a double, well, that’s when an additional layer of awkwardness ensued.

As a result of the play ruling, Shin-Soo Choo was given a free pass to score from second — and had Boesch been able to field the ball, there may have been a play at the plate. Afterward, Boesch appeared to say something to the kid before flipping the ball back in the ball boy’s direction. Awkward, indeed.

Ouch. Kind of reminds me of that “Want to Get Away?” campaign by Southwest Airlines from back in the day.

In the end, the Indians won the game, beating the Tigers by a score of 3-2, meaning the run scored by Shin-Soo Choo as a result of the ball boy’s gaffe proved to have a pretty direct impact upon the outcome of the game. Yeah, we’re just piling on the awkwardness now.